Brooding, melancholic, dark thriller takes a little
too long to unwind. And just a little too enigmatic. Not enough consistency in
tension to keep you glued, though. Sharp-shooting action and bloodied thrills
do make up for some of the slack. The atmospheric advantage is lost in
narrative indulgence but the bloodied action does provide fitful recompense
#LiamNeeson #ScottFrank #DanStevens #BoydHolbrook #DavidHarbour
#TOPEntertainment

Synopsis:A heroin trafficker whose wife was abducted and murdered hires a haunted private investigator to track
down the menwho killed her in this brooding crime drama starring Liam
Neeson. Matt Scudder (Neeson) was an NYPD cop having a quiet drink in a
Washington Heights bar when a pair of armed robbers came in guns blazing.
Giving chase, Scudder guns down the robbers in the street, though a stray
bullet turns a heroic moment tragic. Devastated, Scudder subsequently goes to
work as an unlicensed private detective, working just outside of the law and
surviving on generous gifts offered in exchange for his services. Now, tasked with
rooting out the sadistic thugs who brutally butchered the wife of a wealthy
drug dealer (Dan Stevens), Scudder scours the bars and back alleys of New York
City in search of his elusive targets - and the closer he gets, the more
apparent it becomes that they are something much more sinister than your typical
kidnappers.

Review:

The lines between right and wrong are severely blurred in this
actioner peopled with so many gray and darker characters that it’s hard to pick
one with whom you can empathise. The script of course makes the choice for you
, dovetailing a defanged NYPD cop turned unlicensed private investigator, Matt
Scudder(Neeson) who is trying to come to terms with his own fallibility – in
inadvertently killing a passerby while involved in a shoot-out with armed
robbers who never hesitate to kill for their loot.

In opposition to his brooding, disturbed character are the drug
dealers who fall prey to extortion demands from possibly rogue DEA agents.
Allowing them both their pound of flesh would have been the easy way out but
Scudder has to get involved in the investigation of a kidnapping and murder of
the wife of one of the city’s leading drug peddlers and in ‘Taken’ mode ferrets
out the kingpins and ends up decimating them. Of course one can well expect a
sequel from this as the PI continues to be alive and standing , if a little
worse for wear and his demons are still there to haunt him- making him a hero
cinematically worth pursuing for the long term.

Director & scriptwriter Scott Frank (who wrote ‘Get Shorty’ &
‘Minority Report’ ) adapts Lawrence Block’s 1992 novel featuring his continuing
character Mathew Scudder in an atmospheric projection of good versus evil where
the men are tough and hardened while the women are merely pieces of flesh- take
that literally!

The atmosphere in which Scudder exists
is grim with foreboding and Scudder is
the one imposing Colossus who could be
the light (wavering constantly) in the enveloping darkness filled with
dysfunctional criminal minded misfits. For some interim relief there’s TJ (Brian Bradley/ Astro), a teenager with a
taste for detective fiction whom Scudder befriends while researching Kristo’s
case. He is Scudder’s link to humanity here and though incidental, makes the
film more involving. Overall, there’s a certain brutality to the narration that
would most probably take a toll on the faint-hearted. The line of reasoning
here is sadistic and depraved and that will in fact provide enough thrills for those thriller
junkies!